Hot Button: Commissioners raise county property tax rate

Here are excerpts from comments posted on a July 22 story at commercialappeal.com reporting on the Shelby County Commission’s 7-5 vote to raise the county property tax rate to $4.38 per $100 of assessed value. Six cents of the rate is expected to yield $9.6 million in funding for the new unified Shelby County Schools district.

TennesseeDrew wrote:

Glad (Commissioner Justin) Ford (who voted for the tax rate on July 22, after voting against it at an earlier meeting) came to his senses. They don’t need to mess around with funding Shelby County Schools properly.

Enigma wrote:

Guess the county is in a dead heat to run as many people away as possible. As a resident of Memphis/Shelby you can spend your money on taxes or move and use your money as you choose. Looks like the population drain will continue as the rot spreads. ...

Ben wrote:

Run up the rates and over-assess the houses — at least some of them. Detroit, here we come.

Ohknow wrote:

... This liberal policy thing of spend, spend, spend is working beautifully. First it has all but destroyed Memphis and next comes the county. Separate and equal.

Beetlejuice wrote:

Great. Just what we all need, undervalued and over taxed property. Kinda sad that we continue to foot the bill so these poor excuses for government continue to fatten their wallets and the city and county gain nothing.

Colliervol wrote:

Tax and spend. That’s all these clowns know. No wonder people are leaving this county. Heaven forbid making tough cuts. Their “constituents” wouldn’t like getting taken off the dole.

R021560c wrote:

Vote them all out, it’s the only way for change.

Sonic98 wrote:

At the end of the day how much will this really make some of our taxes go up? I don’t think it’s going to break most people. That being said, I think we do need to find a way to get the school system the money, even if we pay it over a 10- (to) 15-year period. If it’s not the tax increase, it will be something else. It just doesn’t matter for some people. They’re just going to be negative. ... Complaining is just what some people do best. Shelby County is not going to end up like Detroit because we won’t wait until it’s too late, as they did, or rely strictly on one industry to come back and re-ignite us.

2lsj93u5yg wrote:

Every county in this state, including the urban ones, operates with a lower property tax rate. This proves it can be done. Our commissioners either do not know how to manage money or they do not care.